The Pirate Princess
by RED78910
Summary: Omega is a violent place. A dangerous place. A place no being in their right mind would go unless they had no other choice. Ruled by a Queen who cares nothing for her subjects, they starve and die in the streets with no hope for their future. Or is there? Aria's greatest secret, her daughter, may just be the one to bring Omega out of it's misery and give hope to those who have none


**A/N: **I am sorry to say I have no update for 'The Unsung War' this week (I'm working on it, really I am) life has been rather crazy for me, but I did manage to get this written up somehow. I hope you will enjoy it.

This is a sort of 'Proof of Concept' piece for an idea that has been in my head for a while. I'm not sure when, or even if, I'll continue this, but I very much want to. I need to sort out just what I want to do with this story first though. Also, a special thank you goes out to **LogicalPremise **for his help with this. If you have not read his stories, you Really should check them out.

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect is the property of EA and Bioware. I do not own it, or any other movie, video game, song, book, or any other form of media I may reference in this story, and I make no money off of it's publication. This work is entirely fictional. Any characters that may bear resemblance to any persons alive or dead is purely coincidental. Any opinions or beliefs expressed in this story are purely those of the character and not necessarily those of the author**

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><p><strong>The Pirate Princess<strong>

**Omega. 2185. 0650 local time. **

The asari walked down the metal corridor with her head held high and an unreadable expression on her face. The hallway was plain and had black walls, and the faint sound of music coming from several floors down could be heard if the asari listened closely enough.

She wore a bland all brown outfit, but any who looked at the asari would have a hard time taking their eyes off her. Beautiful even by her own people's standards, she stood about 2 meters tall, had a perfectly proportioned body, light violet skin, no facial markings, and blue eyes.

As she walked through the twisting corridors she eventually passed through a series of doors and entered a locker room that was large enough to accommodate about a hundred or so occupants. A door on the far side of the room the violet skinned asari entered from contained a briefing room with a few hundred seats and a large vid-screen.

The changing room was above the 'ground floor' of the space station and was built into the asteroid, and the complex that it was a part of was a bunker built into the asteroid that housed the hundreds of dancers, bouncers, bartenders, and other workers that kept Afterlife, the club that was in the spire directly below this bunker, operating.

The locker room itself had several dozen asari changing into black and brown leather outfits and gradually heading into the briefing room. Standing in front of her own locker, the asari opened it and began to change into her uniform as another asari came up next to the locker right next to hers and began to do the same.

The newly arrived asari smiled broadly as she greeted the first, "Hey T'Armal."

T'Armal greeted her friend warmly as she zipped up her outfit, "Morning Mila."

Mila T'Sangis had light blue skin, was slightly shorter than T'Armal, a slightly slimmer body than most asari had, a few white facial markings scattered around her face, and light green eyes.

Mila asked as she began to change, "Did you see the news feed this morning?"

T'Armal leaned back against her locker and asked in a dull voice as she watched Mila change, "Which one? The report about pirates looting more and more ships in the system? The one about another human colony going missing? Or better yet, another report on Archangel's usual 'kill 'em all' style raids?"

Mila clarified as she zipped up her outfit, "None of the those actually. It's about the Plague."

When she saw T'Armal's confused Mila began to explain, "Apparently there's some kind of plague in one of the districts the Blue suns and Blood Pack are fighting over. It's spreading fast and no word of a cure yet."

T'Armal was concerned to hear this coming from Mila. _Just how did I not know about this?_

Hiding her concern T'Armal asked as the two went into the briefing room, "When did all this start?"

Mila answered as they sat in the first seats they could find, "Just started last night from what I could gather and didn't get much attention till the first hundred or so patients were brought in."

T'Armal nodded and said out loud, "Sounds like something's going to need to be done about that."

Mila nodded but asked in a skeptical tone, "Yeah, but who's going to do it? You? Me?"

T'Armal was about to respond when an asari dressed in a black leather outfit walked up in front of the hundred asari soldiers in the room, pushed a few buttons on her omni-tool to show a display of Omega on the screen behind her, and gave the troops their morning briefing. The picture had various portions of the station colored in to show what mercenary army controlled what location.

Eclipse controlled most of the docks on the station while the Blue Suns and Blood Pack controlled most of the central regions of Omega. Aria T'Loak's faction controlled the upper portions of the station, with Afterlife located at the overall center of the Queen's territory.

The asari in front of the company began to give her morning briefing about all the activity currently happening on the station. Most of it T'Armal already knew, so she usually didn't pay much attention, but today she listened closely for any news she missed this morning before heading in to work.

Overall, there wasn't anything unusual going on today as it turned out. There were the usual skirmishes on the borders of mercenary controlled territory. Food shortages were causing some of the locals to get a bit more...aggressive than usual, and orders from the top said to use lethal force if needed to keep the people in line. Collectors had been spotted again near the station, though none had been seen on Omega itself recently.

When the briefing was about over Mila leaned over and whispered into T'Armal's ear, "Think we should ask about that Plague?"

T'Armal shook her head, "Don't bother. Not in our territory, so we wouldn't do anything about it anyway."

_We just sit back and let our people suffer and die. The hell kind of Queen does that?_

T'Armal shook her head and removed such thoughts from her mind. Now wasn't the time to question leadership decisions. The violet skinned asari just sat in her seat, waited until the briefing was done, and headed with Mila out of the room, through a set of double doors, and into the armory to receive her assault rifle. When the pair were armed with their rifles on their backs they headed near the exit where the rest of their squad had formed up at.

There were four other asari T'Armal and Mila were in their squad with. All of them were at least a few centuries older than Mila or T'Armal, had fairly muscular builds, and were all a few inches taller than their younger counterparts. Their squad leader was an asari who had dark purple skin, black facial markings and blue eyes named Asura D'Tyais.

D'Tyais nodded to the two arrivals and told the squad, "Alright people, we've got an easy day ahead of us. We'll be patrolling the market districts on the border of Blue Suns and Blood Pack territory. Lately things have been pretty quiet, but keep your guard up. Questions?"

Mila asked in a voice that was equal parts annoyance and disappointment, "Why the fuck are we patrolling the markets again? That's the third time this month and-"

Kuvera D'Harti, the tallest asari in the group who had dark blue skin, brown eyes, and no facial markings, lectured her squadmate, "Just shut up and do what you're told. You've been here long enough to know to do that!"

Mila was a bit taken aback by that, but remained silent none the less. It was true she was a recent addition to the squad, having been there for just under a month. Still, she was an excellent shot with a rifle and had strong biotics for someone her age; so to her just walking around a region that nothing was likely to happen seemed like a waste of time to her.

T'Armal saw the defeated look on Mila's face and put her hand on the other asari's shoulder, "Don't worry. Maybe you'll get lucky and we'll get ambushed."

Mila had a look on her face that T'Armal didn't think she was meant to see when her squadmate replied, "I hope not. I'd rather yo- we not get hurt. You know?"

T'Armal nodded. _Yeah. I know. But do you?_

* * *

><p>A few hours later the squad was walking down a walkway and into a busy market center in one of the districts near Afterlife. The air was heavy and humid causing the asari to perspire in their suits quickly after setting out. The smell of refuse, decaying flesh, and other smells that would make normal beings gag filled the air. When T'Armal had first come to the station she had been almost unable to breath, but now? Now the smells were as familiar to her as using her biotics and she wasn't sure she would be entirely comfortable breathing a normal planet's atmosphere again.<p>

_It's funny what you can get used to given enough time._

The squad was walking two by two, with D'Harti and D'Tyais in front, T'Armal and T'Sangis in the middle, and two asari with sniper rifles named Sati T'Vashtri and Preta S'Varga in back. The crowd made way for the squad, and the venders were even hesitant to offer any of Aria's soldiers anything fearing what they might do if annoyed.

T'Armal looked into the eyes of the people she passed by and saw fear. Fear of Aria. Fear of them. This sickened the violet skinned asari and she wasn't able to look at the civilians for long.

_They shouldn't fear us. You can't rule just through fear, you need more than that. Fear leads to anger, which leads to hate, which leads to rebellion._

Walking further down the path Mila, who was on T'Armal's right and next to the vendors, saw a dying batarian in the alley between two buildings and walked over to him. The man was wearing ragged clothes, looked as though he hadn't eaten in days, and could hardly move. Mila was down on her knees giving him a bottle of water she had on her and looked up at T'Armal when she came close enough to be heard.

Mila asked in a somewhat desperate voice, "Could you help me with him? We need to get him help now and-"

Sati, a being with teal skin, red facial markings along her crest, and grey eyes came up and said, "Forget it, he'll be dead by the time you get him to the nearest clinic." Mila looked like she was about to say something when Sati cut her off, "Look, I'm sorry for this guy, really I am, but he's long past the point of helping. You want to help him? Put him out of his misery now. That's about all you can do for him."

The two asari with sniper rifles left the two younger soldiers behind as they continued their patrol, Mila glaring at them as they went. Looking down at the batarian, Mila said a few quiet words to him expressing how sorry she was, left him the bottle of water, and continued on as best she could. T'Armal looked at her as she left, and then down at the batarian as he tried to raise the bottle.

Leaning down, T'Armal helped him take a few last drinks before he nodded, "Alright. Do it."

T'Armal didn't say a word as she snapped his neck, ending his pain. As the asari rose she looked at Mila and sighed.

_This is just how Omega is. The sooner you realize that Mila, the better off we all are._

T'Armal caught up with Mila and after a few minutes of silence told her, "Look, I understand how you feel."

Mila looked over at her with an angry expression and replied in a disbelieving tone, "Oh really?"

T'Armal nodded, "Really. When I first got here I couldn't believe how things here were. Eventually though, I just accepted it. No sense thinking about things you can't control Mila. I hate it, believe me I do, but the fact is that things on this station are not likely to change anytime soon. So you best get used to it."

Mila had a look that suggested she didn't exactly agree with T'Armal's opinion, but just looked forward and picked up her pace to catch up with the rest of their squad.

* * *

><p>After a few more hours of patrolling the squad came to a small noodle stand that had three stools and a few tables. T'Armal and Mila sat at the bar while the other four sat at the tables looking at the area around them, their backs to Mila and T'Armal. The area they had stopped at for lunch, though still within Aria's controlled territory, was still near enough the border with the Blue Suns and Blood Pack to warrant most of the team to be on guard.<p>

The light violet skinned asari looked down at her bowel and sighed. When they had ordered T'Armal couldn't help but notice the prices were higher than the last time they had been here, and the asari was sure the amount of food they had been given wasn't as much as it had been before either.

_Food's starting to get harder to come by. Need to make sure to do something about that._

After a few minutes the asari finished their noodles. When the salarian cashier was about to take their payments Mila put her arm out in front of T'Armal, preventing her from activating her omni-tool or reaching for a credit chit, and presented the cashier her own chit and payed for both their lunches.

T'Armal smiled at that and told Mila, "You know, you didn't have to do that."

The other asari waved her off, "Don't worry about it. I like to do nice stuff for people I like."

T'Armal smiled and tilted her head at Mila, "Oh really? And just what did I do to deserve your affection?"

Before Mila could say another word gunfire erupted near their position, and the squad immediately drew their weapons and sprinted off to investigate.

The area the soldiers came to was a large four way intersection, with the territory Aria controlled on one half, and the Blue Suns and Blood Pack each having a corner of it. On Aria's side the buildings were fairly well kept and intact. On the other side the buildings had considerably more wear and tear, most had bullet holes, and a few even had large chunks missing, most likely due to a rocket or grenade destroying a large section of the building.

T'Armal's squad was just one of several that took up position atop and inside of several of the towers overlooking the firefight between Blood Pack and Blue Suns mercenaries. As far as T'Armal could tell from her position atop a tower, the Blood Pack was attempting yet another assault into Blue Suns territory. The krogan mercenaries had been trying for months to push the human founded group off the station, but had met with little success.

The Blue Suns were dug in, had machine guns mounted in high locations with interlocking fields of fire, and had pyro units spread out in pillboxes on the border of their territory that roasted any hostile stupid enough to get too close. Which, given that the Blood Pack's main battle tactic was to use overwhelming numbers to overrun a target, was pretty much every Blood Pack soldier not killed by rockets or machine gun fire.

_And that's why the krogan are an evolutionary dead end: no imagination. Idiots._

As the scene played out before them Asura relayed in her omni-tool, "Command, this is Alpha Patrol. Heavy fighting in Arcon district. Requesting orders."

T'Armal looked to her right to see Mila had a nervous smile on her face. No doubt she was hoping for orders to engage. This was the closest the squad had come to actual combat in the entire time T'Sangis had been with T'Armal's team.

T'Armal just shook her head slightly and told her, "Don't get your hopes up. This kind of thing happens all the time. We never get to do anything."

Before Mila could respond T'Armal heard a very familiar voice over the radio speak in a cool and detached yet authoritative tone ask, "Have they made any advances on our territory?"

"Negative."

The voice ordered in an annoyed tone, "Then stay put and don't do jack shit unless they do. Hold position for now, I'm sending in reinforcements to relieve you. When they arrive resume normal activities."

Asura nodded as she replied, "Understood."

T'Armal looked over at Mila and shrugged, "Told you."

The other asari had a somewhat disbelieving look on her face as she began to ask, "Wait, was that-"

T'Armal scooted over to where she was right on front of Mila and told her, "Yeah, that was the Queen alright, now shut up before you say something really stupid."

Mila still had a confused look on her face as she thought out loud, "But why would-"

T'Armal put her hands over Mila's mouth and told her, "I told you to shut up. Asking questions in this squad is a good way to get yourself killed. Just do as you're told and you'll be fine. Got it?"

Mila nodded and T'Armal pulled back and apologised, "Sorry about that, but it was for your own good. Trust me."

A relief force soon arrived, and the asari soldiers that had taken up position went back further into Aria's territory and went back to patrolling while the sounds of gunfire and rocket blasts behind them intensified.

* * *

><p>When the long day of endless patrolling eventually came to an end the company of troops came back to base, went through a boring debrief that T'Armal didn't even bother to pay attention to, and was dismissed for the night. After waiting until most of the group had left T'Armal had taken a brief shower and went over to her locker with a towel wrapped around her, Mila getting dressed in a red and black outfit next to her.<p>

As T'Armal began to dress she couldn't help but notice Mila admiring her body. After T'Armal had her pants on Mila looked around and after not noticing anyone asked timidly, "So um, Liselle?"

Liselle T'Armal looked over at her friend as she put her shirt on, "Yeah?"

Mila asked in a voice that sounded like is was being forced to be steady, "Do you maybe want to get something to eat?"

Liselle smiled and asked in a somewhat suggestive voice, "Where you planning on taking me? Should I go back home and get an expensive robe on or this just a fast food kind of run?"

Mila looked slightly taken aback and replied quietly, "I um...wasn't planning anything fancy so…"

Liselle laughed and waved her off, "Sorry, didn't mean to put you on the spot. Anyway, I kinda have plans tonight anyway, so how about tomorrow?"

Mila visibly relaxed and nodded, "Sure. That gives me time to plan something good. See you tomorrow."

Liselle watched her leave out the doors leading to the ground floor of the station. As soon as Mila was out of ear range Liselle turned around to see her squad from earlier staring at her.

Sighing Liselle asked rhetorically, "So you're all going to be there. Aren't you?"

Asura and the rest of the squad Liselle was in, minus Mila of course, were not just your run of the mill asari commandos; they were Aria T'Loak's most trusted lieutenants. The first four asari she recruited to her cause when she set her sights on conquering Omega. The only four beings that might honestly be able to say that Aria was their friend.

When Liselle was growing up on her mother's estate on Nevos, she had been raised largely by them. On the various occasions her mother had visited, she had told her daughter that these were her aunts. In a way that was true. They had helped raise Liselle, and while Aria was always the one Liselle called mother, the young maiden couldn't help but feel a familial connection to the four commandos standing in front of her now.

That didn't mean she liked them spying on her personal life, even if she understood why it had to be done.

Preta, an asari with dark blue skin, white facial markings over most of her face, and dark green eyes, smiled and assured her, "You won't even know we're there. And don't worry, we won't stick around if things get heated between you two."

Liselle chuckled a bit at that, "I didn't think you would. Still, I doubt she'd try anything like that. Honestly I'm not even sure she's aware of how she feels."

After saying goodnight to the rest of her squad Liselle proceeded down the same corridor she had come in to work from this morning. After moving through a seemingly endless series of twists and turns she eventually came to what appeared to be a dead end. After waiting a few minutes and listening carefully to make sure there was no one who had followed her, the young asari walked up to the wall, put her hand on a tile and pushed.

The false tile soon gave way to a panel that Liselle put her hand to, and after reading her fingerprints, and elevator appeared to the asari's right which she promptly entered and ascended higher into the asteroid.

After a few seconds the elevator stopped and opened to reveal a small hallway with half a dozen doors, almost resembling a hotel floor. Directly ahead of the elevator was a master bedroom, which had a bed big enough to fit four beings easily, half a dozen dressers, a large vid-screen, and a luxurious couch. Next to that on the right was a kitchen that had a small table, two refrigerators, and a full set of appliances. On the left was Liselle's room, which had two dressers, a bed that could easily fit two beings, a table and a desk. There was also a laundry room, a bar, and an armory.

The only people who knew about this place were Liselle and Aria. Liselle actually enjoyed that fact, as it was perhaps the only place she could totally be herself and not put on some front for the sake of keeping her identity a secret and being able to interact with her mother, something that had been made difficult in the years since she had joined Aria's army.

Heading into the kitchen, Liselle was immediately taken in by the smell of the meat her mother was frying on the stove directly across from the door and behind the table. The table itself was filled with piles of fresh vegetables, a basket of rolls, two pitchers of ice water, and a bottle of wine.

Aria, who was dressed in her usual leather pants and white jacket, looked behind her and smiled at her daughter, "Ah, finally. I was beginning to think you'd never show up. Sit down, I'm almost done."

Liselle did as she was told, and after a few seconds her mother walked over to the table and scrapped the pieces of fried meat onto a large plate and set the skillet down on the stove when she was done. Meanwhile, Liselle poured the wine and water in their glasses and by the time she was done, Aria had started to sit down.

After they both were seated they two asari joined hands on the table, put their heads down to utter a silent prayer, and after a few moments filled their plates and began to talk about their day.

Liselle began, "I've got a date tomorrow night, so I probably won't be in until late."

Aria smiled, "Really? And just who is this little plaything of yours?"

Liselle shrugged as she swallowed a bit of food, "Mila actually. You know, that new girl you put in my squad for some reason? And I'm not so sure she's my 'plaything' mother."

Aria was curious now, "Oh? Why not? Is she not up to your impossibly high standards?"

Liselle was slightly agitated by that, "I don't have high standards mother, I just don't-"

Aris cut her off and pointed a fork that had a vegetable on the end at her daughter, "You just don't find anyone worth being with, is that it?"

Liselle defended, "No, I just don't see a point getting involved with someone I know you won't approve of. Besides, Mila hasn't been clear if she's even interested in me, so why should I be interested in her?"

Aria suggested as she chewed a bit of food, "Recreational sex, building up an alliance with a powerful biotic who shows leadership potential, friendship, a real relationship. Really there's any number of reasons why you might want to. Also," Aria lost the friendly attitude she had before and was now totally serious, "Don't ever think you know me well enough to know whom I will or won't approve of when it comes to your lovers. Is that clear?"

Liselle shrunk in her seat a bit and nodded.

Aria seemed placated by that and her expression went back to the friendly and relaxed way it was before, "Goood. Also Liselle, I want to to have fun in your life. How many lovers have you taken since you got here anyway? You're young, beautiful, and have every reason in the galaxy to be enjoying your youth. I don't want to see you waste it trying to learn everything there is about ruling. There's time enough for that, believe me. So could you please try to have a bit more fun in your life?"

Liselle looked down at her food. She honestly didn't know if she could. Ever since she was young, Liselle had always been a headstrong person, who according to most of her teachers and friends always seemed to take life too seriously. When others would laugh, she would be silent. When other children would find time to play, Liselle would be doing whatever assignment her teacher had given her. When that was done, she would be practicing her biotics or reading a book. To say she was a recluse would be wrong as she did have friends growing up, but she was far from a popular asari in school.

Sighing, Liselle looked at her mother, "I'll...try. But I make no promises."

Aria nodded, "Fair enough."

After a few more minutes Liselle asked, "So what's this Plague I keep hearing about?"

Aria sighed and put down her fork, "Oh Goddess, that shit storm again." After taking a minute to compose herself Aria explained, "Yes, it seems there's some kind of outbreak in the Gozu district."

When her mother didn't elaborate further Liselle asked with a somewhat expectant tone in her voice, "Well, don't you think we ought to do something about that?"

Aria said in a disinterested voice, "I've already ordered the whole district locked down; no one's getting in or out. There's nothing more we can do."

Liselle pressed, "But what about a cure-"

Aria waved her off, "The most intelligent, hyper-active, and probably psychotic salarian I've ever met is in that district. If there's any chance of a cure being found, he'll find it. If not?" Aria gave an apathetic shrug, "Fewer mouths to feed."

Liselle did her best to hide her feelings of disapproval from her mother. This wasn't how a ruler was supposed to act. The people of Omega needed food, protection, order! Instead they only got anarchy, starvation, poverty and disease, and it made Liselle angry to no end.

Still, she couldn't bring herself to hate her mother for letting the people of Omega suffer. Aria had made no claim to actually being some kind of monarch; that whole 'Queen of Omega' title was what some reporter in Citadel Space had called her once, and the name had stuck. Sure, Aria was the most powerful crime lord on the station, but she didn't really run anything outside her territory. All she did was exact tribute from the lesser groups to remind them not to fuck with her, and everything went on as it always had on the station. It was wrong, Liselle surmised, to blame her mother for not living up to some expectation she had never set out to achieve.

Besides, in spite of all that Liselle was forced to admit her mother was, she was still just that: her mother. And Liselle had always enjoyed a loving, if not always close, relationship with her.

The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful, both of the asari turning in fairly early. As Liselle changed into a loose fitting turquoise silk robe she couldn't help but promise herself that, when she ruled the station, things would be different. No more petty wars between gangs or rival mercenary armies. No more viral outbreaks that required entire sections of the station to be left to die so the rest could live. No more people starving in the streets because they couldn't afford to buy food and were too afraid of getting caught and getting shot by mercenaries if they tried to steal some half rotten bread.

_No, _Liselle promised herself as she entered her bed and shut off the lights with a snap of her fingers, _When I'm Queen, things will be different. When I rule, I'll build an Omega my mother couldn't possibly imagine. _


End file.
